Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > News Items

Teenager in a RTC downs at Lakeside Park

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Ursus:
A more recent press release from Messa & Associates, P.C.. The article mentioned is the one posted just above.

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Joe Messa, Client Speak about Carnez Boone Case

Philadelphia (February 11, 2011) — The Philadelphia Daily News spoke to Okita Allen, the mother of Carnez Boone, as well as Joseph L. Messa about the pending lawsuit filed after the 14-year-old teen drowned in a lake at Lakeside Park in Stoneboro last summer.

Ms. Allen talked about how she has coped since the passing of her son and her lingering thoughts of why he was even on the diving board in the first place. She says she feels "there was no remorse, no compassion."

In the article, Mr. Messa discussed how the school, lifeguards and Lakeside Park Company, the company that owns the lake, were negligent in protecting Boone.

"The child's safety is the most important thing," he told the newspaper.

For more information regarding this case, please contact Glorious Hightower at 215-568-3500 or [email protected].

Click here to read the article.

About Messa and Associates, P.C.

Messa & Associates, P.C., represents individuals and their families in complex personal injury matters, including catastrophic injury, medical malpractice, product liability, motor vehicle accidents, fires and explosions. Our attorneys serve Pennsylvania clients throughout the state, including in Philadelphia and other surrounding communities in Montgomery County, Chester County, Delaware County, and Bucks County. Messa & Associates are also proud to serve New Jersey clients throughout the state as well as litigate selected cases throughout the country.

Ursus:
From a Houston Personal Injury law firm, which apparently has a blog roll of drowning related news on their website:

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Mother of Drowned Son Sues
Posted By Houston Personal Injury Attorney

Reports say the YES Academy is being sued by the mother of a son who drowned while attending a summer program.

Carnez Boone, a 14-year-old Collingdale, PA boy who had been sent to a residential treatment program in western Pennsylvania, drowned in Stoneboro last summer after jumping off the high dive.

Carnez's mother, Okita Allen, reportedly claims that school counselors pressured Carnez to jump off the high dive during a class trip with the YES Academy, a yearlong residential program for troubled teens. The Yes Program reportedly claims they did nothing wrong, pointing out that Carnez told counselors that he could swim - which was apparently not accurate.

Carnez had attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and behavior problems, reports say, and was recently convicted on a conspiracy charge for stealing a car. The Delaware County Juvenile Court judge had sentenced him to 14 months at YES Academy, a comprehensive treatment program in Mercer County for juvenile fire-starters, sex offenders and excessively aggressive youths, reports say.

The facility reportedly questioned Carnez's ability to swim, but then provided him two lifeguards, assuring each other that Boone would be OK, according to reports.

Water safety - and water rescue - come into sharper focus as swim season arrives. In the event of an accident, knowing your rights are critical. The Doan Law Firm P.C. has many hours of direct experience with water injury and drowning and can give advice on what to do if tragedy does strike. Contact the Doan Law Firm, P.C., led by Houston personal injury attorney Jimmy Doan, at 1 Riverway, Suite 2055, Houston, Texas 77056, (713) 869-4747 or (800) 910-FIRM.


Categories: Drowning Accident , Wrongful Death
Posted By Houston Personal Injury Attorney on February 19, 2011 11:38 am

Oscar:
The mother of the boy who died was denied justice. She had no good lawyer at her side. She was properly poor and not good looking enough to be put on the frontpages of some newspapers crying so people could find sympathy for her.


--- Quote ---Federal judge tosses civil rights suit filed by mother of teen who drowned (Delco Times)
By Cindy Scharr, Delaware County Daily Times, March 24 2014

A federal judge tossed a civil rights suit filed by the mother of a 13-year-old boy who drowned while on a field trip with YES Academy, a residential program for troubled teenagers.

Okita Allen, the mother of Carnez Boone, filed a civil suit in U.S. District Court claiming the defendants, Youth Educational Services of Pennsylvania LLC, two related corporate entities and nine individuals associated with the academy violated her son’s constitutional rights under the eighth and 14th amendments. The lawsuit sought unspecified damages.

In her order dated March 20, Senior U.S. District Judge Mary A. McLaughlin wrote that the plaintiff’s allegations against were not founded and dismissed the case with prejudice.

“Indeed, the record clearly reflects this accident, while certainly tragic, was nothing more than an isolated incident.”

Boone drowned on July 30, 2010, while on a trip to Lakeside Park in Stoneboro in western Pennsylvania with several other residents of YES Academy.

According to court records, he was adjudicated by the Delaware County Juvenile Court and referred to YES Academy by the Delaware County Juvenile Probation Office. YES Academy is a certified residential juvenile treatment facility located in Mercer County.

Allen claimed her son was unable to swim and had not been tested as to his swimming ability prior to the trip.

According to court documents, at about 12:45 p.m., Boone jumped into the lake and did not resurface. The YES counselors and lifeguards at the lake had difficulty finding the boy. He was eventually located, placed on the dock where efforts were made to revive him, according to court documents. Boone was transported to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2:11 a.m.

Allen filed three complaints, an original and two amended complaints. The most recent amendment was in response to the court’s dismissal of the first amended complaint.

Allen alleged that the defendants’ actions caused her son’s death. She claimed Boone’s death is attributable to the defendants’ policies of taking “residents swimming without first testing or evaluating their swimming abilities.”

However, the judge wrote, “notwithstanding the factual errors” made by the plaintiff, she fails to connect any of the alleged failures or omissions to any actual policy or custom maintained by the defendants with “deliberate indifference” to the rights of Boone and other residents.

The court declined to allow the plaintiff to file a third amended complaint because it would be “futile.”

McLaughlin noted the plaintiff has been consistently unable, either in her written pleadings or at oral argument, and even after a period of discovery, to identify a policy or custom that would support that the defendants are liable for the death of Carnez Boone.

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